Fresh Start, New Beginnings

Chapter 12

Abigail's mouth gaped wide, she knew she had to answer Ryan at some point in case he started to think she didn't feel the same way. She closed her mouth and then opening it to talk but nothing came out. Was this even real? Even though It seemed like forever Abigail had only hesitated for a few moments "Yeah...erm...I really like you too and ending it now when it's only just beginning would be a shame" Abigail found herself tripping over her words "How long will you be away for?" She wondered.

"A couple of weeks at the most, we are promoting our new album" Ryan stood up from the bed and pulled on his underwear "I will be back as soon as I can be"

"Then what?" Abigail didn't mean to cross examine him, but she wanted to make sure she wasn't investing too much into this if it wasn't a two way thing.

"Then we spend as much time together as possible until one of us is dragged away for work again" Abigail was now stood up, she slipped a silk dressing gown on and headed into the en-suite bathroom. Abigail was surprised to feel two arms around her waist "We can make this work Abi, but only if you want to" Abigail smiled an nodded much to Ryan's relief.

"Yeah I wanna see where we can go with this" she turned and kissed him. Abigail slipped out of her dressing gown and hopped in the shower "We better get ready if we have to be at the television studio by 8.30"

"I thought you said you were meeting Tony at 8?" Ryan yelled over the running water.

"Yeah I did, Tony always tells me to be somewhere 30 minutes earlier than I need to be, stops me from being late" Abigail replied with her head poking out of the shower door "We could be twice as fast is we share a shower" her suggestion was obvious, Ryan quickly got undressed and climbed in the shower behind her.

Abigail was just getting dressed when her cell phone rang "Hello Harry" Abigail smiled. Ryan watched and listened curiously.

"Oh my god Abigail Jenson, I don't contact you for nearly 24 hours and already I have answered 20 plus calls about your love life, Nick's secret affair and his new girlfriend" Harriet exclaimed in her usual dramatic tone.

"Yeah I know sorry" Abigail laughed as she walked into her closet and looked for something to wear, she pulled out a pair of black fitted high waist pants and a royal blue chiffon vest with strap sleeves. Abigail walked back into the bedroom where Ryan was, in her black strapless bra and lace panty set "I have spoken to Nick and we are going with the original plan, the less Freya is exposed to our train wreck the better" Abigail sighed, causing Ryan to glance over at her. He smiled as he watched her rest her phone between her ear and shoulder and pull up her pants.

"Tony has spoken to Craig and he assures us nothing will be mentioned on the show about the article or your personal life" Harriet explained "Oh and Phoebe said don't worry about styling your hair, she will fix it for you"

"Great thanks Harry, I will meet you tomorrow for lunch, love you too bye" Abigail finally hung up and returned her attention to Ryan, who was still watching her. He was dressed at this point, he just had to style his hair and then he was good to go.

"Everything ok?" Although Ryan figured out what Abigail was talking about, he didn't really want to assume.

"Yeah, just people around me taking care of damage limitation" Abigail reassured him "You look incredibly hot by the way" she added as she looked at him. She slipped the blue top over her head and tucked it into her pants "Could you fasten this please?" She held out a white gold and diamond cross on a thin rope style chain.

"Sure" Ryan stood behind her and while Abigail held her hair up, Ryan fastened the necklace. He then kissed her neck softly causing her to fall relax back into him slightly "Beautiful" he whispered.

The pair left Abigail's house together, Leroy drove them to the show in Abigail's Range Rover. They decided it would he best if they arrived to the Television Studio seperately, Ryan went in first. Abigail waited in the car with Leroy "I feel so bad for making you wait outside my house today" Abigail sat forward in her seat and looked between the two front seats.

"It's ok honey" Leroy turned his body to face Abigail "Tony wants me to protect you, let's be honest I would rather wait outside, me being there would have made things awkward" he laughed.

"Yeah I guess you're right" Abigail smiled "I told him about what happened..."

"What did he say?" Leroy realised how serious Abigail was about Ryan, he knew that only close friends and family know what really happened with the stalker.

"Not a lot, he said he would never let anyone close enough to hurt me again" Abigail was fidgeting in the back seat "I really like him Leroy"

"I can see that" Leroy chuckled "It's obvious he really likes you too, but why do I get a feeling there's a problem?" He added in in a more serious tone.

"I...I don't...I'm not sure if I can go through all this again, I mean he is famous and...what if the press do to us, what they did to me and Nick?" Abigail admitted her fears "I'm not sure I can go through that again"

"Honey listen to me" Leroy started "You have changed so much in the past 18 months and Ryan isn't Nick...granted he has his own fan base, but not to the extreme that it takes over. Chances like this don't come around often, grab it with both hands baby. If it works it works and if it doesn't...well at least you lived and learned"